Paper beats Stone, Stone beats Scissors, Scissors beat Paper, Monkey beats... The Apes have graduated and are ready to unleash even more mayhem with Ape Academy 2 on PSP.

Although Ape Academy 2 is a game designed for younger players, its wholesome nature and kitsch feel make it a fun distraction for all ages. It is bright, easy to play and highly addictive.

Based on the tried and tested game of Paper, Scissors, Stone, Ape Academy blends this ancient playground stalwart with the phenomenon of Trading Card Games, such as Pokemon and Magic the Gathering, and adds a whole new twist through oodles of mini-games.

And of course there's a whole lot of monkeys! The whole gang is represented, from monkey mobsters and knights of old to simian horror flick villains and silver screen icons. One hundred different characters are waiting to be won or collected, each one represented by three different cards - Paper, Scissors, Stone.

Easy chimpanzee-asy

When playing a hand you get to see what type of cards, but not the specific characters, your opponent has. Each card costs a certain value to play in bananas and once you have selected what you want to play, your opponent will choose a card as well. The winner then gets a chance to pass their card's effect onto the loser.

This may sound confusing but it is really easy in practice. Each card has an effect, such as removing 200 points from your opponent's stamina or gaining extra bananas. Draws - Stone vs. Stone for example - are ignored, but the effects of the cards used then add to later winning hands.

Where Ape Academy really excels over traditional card games though, is through the mini-games. Each character has an associated mini-game and you have to win this to pass the card's effect on to your opponent or prevent them from doing it to you if you lost the hand.

Monkey Magic

Monkey Pirates, where you have to aim your cannon to sink your opponents ship, Lemur Lumberjack, a race to saw through a tree so it falls on your opponents head, or Monkey Dungeon, a crawl through an invisible maze to reach bananas, all add fun, quick-play elements to the more tactical card game and with 100 different mini-games it doesn't get repetitive.

Your deck for all of these games is made up of 20 cards, which can be built upon by earning cards when you win or spending your cash winnings on buying booster packs or individual cards at the shop. This lets you make a deck that suits your style of play, packed full of the mini-games you enjoy.

The Monkeys went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!

Ad Hoc Mode on PSP takes the fun even further, letting you battle it out against a friend in a battle royale, either playing with a pre-built deck or one of your own construction. Two player action though is not limited to playing PSP-owning friends, though. Ape Academy also lets two players compete on one PSP in 'Banana Split Screen' mode - just don't cheat by looking to see what card your opponent selected...

Ape Academy 2 is fun, a perfect pick-up-and-play game for PSP, which lets you enjoy quick 10-minute card games or in-depth hour long sessions. Kitsch in the extreme, it is worth checking out for all ages.